Vehicle access to the school site

As Headteacher, nothing is more important to me than the safety of your child. I have received a number of expressions of concern from parents, pupils, staff and governors about the safety of the school site as vehicles enter at the end of the day. Specifically, some parents are ignoring access markings to the bus bays, choosing to park irresponsibly or failing to adhere to the speed limit.

Despite approaching many parents directly about this, the situation did not improve. Therefore, I took the decision in Autumn 2017 to close the school site to vehicles at the end of the school day. This means that parents who collect their child by car are required to park within the vicinity of the school as opposed to on the school site itself. It also means that parents who choose not to obey road markings will be subject to enforcement by the local authority or police.

I would like to take this opportunity to re-iterate that the school gates will be closed to vehicles at the end of the day.  Should you require vehicular access for a specific purpose (for example, if your child has a mobility difficulty) please contact Mrs K Payne, ALNCO, at the school.

In addition, and for the safety of all pupils, we will be enforcing the correct traffic circulation on site in the build up to, and around the start of the school day between 8.00 and 9.00 am.  Parents/carers are kindly reminded not to drop off their children in the bus bay area, whether in a bus parking bay or behind the buses on the other side of the drop off zone (as some vehicles have been attempting to circumvent traffic that is stopping or queuing by the drop off zone itself by driving into the bus bay area).   I would also kindly remind everyone that the speed on site is 5 mph.

As I have stated in previous correspondence, I regret that I have had to make this decision as a result of the irresponsible actions of a few. However, I restate that your child’s welfare is of paramount importance to me and I cannot risk their safety for the sake of convenience.

As always, I thank you for working with us to make our school an even better place to be.

Mrs C A Weatherall

Headteacher